If there was any intent to swiftly remove children deemed by a Quebec judge to need protection there is no speedy resolution; the case involving a controversial Jewish sect that moved during the night from Quebec to Southern Ontario will not even be argued until a month after a removal order was issued but not fulfilled.

Mayer Rosner sits on a folding chair at the head of a long table in a loose-fitting black jacket and wide-brimmed black hat, breaking off a piece of bread from an enormous loaf still warm from the oven. His wife and five of his nine children, all swathed tightly around their head in long, black cloth, sit before him.

As his wife, Malka, gets up to clear away the avocado and tomatoes and check on the duck eggs cooking on the stove, their five daughters, the eldest 17 and the youngest four, listen to their father or play with Play-Doh, rolling out colourful logs like their mother had just done to make bread.

On Wednesday, child services in Chatham sought an Ontario judge’s permission to enforce the Quebec court order to seize 14 children from two families living in the Lev Tahor sect — including a 17-year-old who is the mother of an infant child, making her both a child and the mother of a child included in the protection proceedings.

The hearing has been postponed until Dec. 23. And even then, arguments could be lengthy.

Nachman Helbrans, son of the group’s founder, Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, said legal arguments will take “some days, maybe weeks.”

“There [are] no new issues or negative issues [brought] up by the child services in Ontario. On the contrary, they are very positive regarding the current situation of the families, but they have pure legal issues regarding jurisdiction,” he said.

“Our legal ‘battle’ is concentrated only to fight the illegitimate Quebec court procedures against residents of Ontario.”

Calls to Chatham-Kent Children’s Services were not returned.

Documents provided to the families Tuesday show that on Dec. 4 a justice of the peace was asked to issue a warrant of apprehension against the families — without notifying them — which was declined on Dec. 7, says Armenia Teixeira, lawyer for the families.

That led to Wednesday’s court hearing of a formal motion by children’s services to have the children returned to Quebec to fulfil the Quebec court order.

Child services here has no power in Ontario

Quebec officials are waiting to learn if their order will be enforced in Ontario and remain concerned over the children’s health, said Isabelle Dugré with child-protection services in the Laurentians.

“Child services here has no power in Ontario,” said Ms. Dugré. “We are still waiting to see if the Quebec judgment will be enforced by Ontario. We are still waiting for the ‘if’ and the ‘when.’”

Meanwhile, Jewish families in Quebec are ready to receive any children who may be removed from the Lev Tahor, said David Ouellette, spokesman for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Quebec. Jewish social services in the province were asked several weeks ago to be prepared in case a court ordered removals.

“We are ready. We will have to see what happens in court,” said Mr. Ouellette.

Orthodox Jewish families have been selected to make an easier transition for children raised in an ultra-Orthodox community. Host families need to speak Yiddish and follow orthodox Jewish traditions.

“They are a Jewish sect and although they are certainly outside the norms of Judaism they live within a Judaic tradition. There is a desire to mitigate what is a traumatic experience,” Mr. Ouellette. “There will be at least some familiarity for the children so they won’t be completely disoriented.”

Although Mr. Helbrans said his community is co-operating with child services officials in Ontario, the community had also said it was working well with Quebec’s child services just before moving in the night, en masse, to Ontario rather than appear in court.

The community was settled in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, 100 kilometres northwest of Montreal, when two families were ordered to appear in court with their children on Nov. 14. Instead, most members of the community, about 200 people, climbed into rental buses and travelled overnight to Chatham, 80 kilometres east of Windsor.

On Nov. 27, the Quebec hearing proceeded without them. After hearing testimony, which is now under a publication ban, the judge ordered the children to return to Quebec and into foster care as a protection measure. That ruling is under appeal.

“We argued the Quebec court had no jurisdiction because the families no longer live on Quebec territory,” said Ms. Teixeira. “There are a lot of issues to be dealt with. There is freedom of religion, there is freedom of mobility within Canada, Charter issues.”

She dismissed allegations of abuse. “I have been involved with the community for about a year and a half and I haven’t seen anything and I haven’t heard anything of concern to me. I’m an educated woman and a non-Jew and if some of the stuff they are saying about them were true, I wouldn’t have the relationship I do with them. Do I agree with them? That’s not for me to judge.”

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